THIN FILM-BASED SPHERICAL OR HEMISPHERICAL DISPLAY DEVICE
The present invention refers to a display device of a general spherical display surface, which comprises a general spherical body that is spherical or hemispherical or any form in between, a layer of displaying film covering substantially the whole surface of the body, and an electronic driver circuitry which is connected to the layer of displaying film for powering and driving the displaying film. The layer of displaying films is thin and cut, for instance, in a plurality of pieces in banana shape, half banana shape, hexagonal shape, diamond shape, triangle shape, soccer ball, or even in sphere or hemisphere of an integral part. Alternatively, the present invention may be a globe display device which has internally installed driving circuitry and wireless communication device mounted inside of the globe. The display device is capable of communicating with any Smartphone with an APP for operation, or a separate control device.
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This invention relates to spherical or hemispherical display apparatus, and more particularly it relates to a spherical or hemispherical display apparatus made of thin flexible display films, such as AMOLED film or the like, attached to the surface of a spherical or hemispherical body.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONCurrently, spherical or hemispherical display devices have gained public recognition for displaying information, such as scientific, educational, virtual reality, entertainment, advertising, etc. For displaying information on a sphere or hemisphere, there are a number of approaches: front or rear projection in different configurations, or LED panels. Such approaches are costly, offer limited resolution, and are limited in scale. In order to achieve high brightness and resolution, the necessary projectors and lenses for front or rear projection on a sphere or hemisphere are expensive. And while LED panels are bright, their comparative resolution is low. In addition, viewers expectations have become more demanding—they expect the level of brightness, quality, and interactivity on a sphere or hemisphere that they now find routinely on their phones. To date, interactivity on spherical and hemispherical surfaces has been implemented using cameras, sometimes with IR flood lighting. These approaches are expensive and require significant tuning and adjustment. As a result, an affordable, high resolution, bright, interactive spherical or hemispherical display is still sought.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is a solution for spherical or hemispherical display systems that eliminates the requirement for front or rear projection systems, and for LED panels. It offers high resolution and low cost, while still being able to achieve a touch-interactive surface. Here, the term of “spherical” should refer to any shapes that are proportion of a spherical, such as, one third, two third, three fourth, or any portion of a general spherical shape, including hemispherical shape. According to the present invention, a spherical or hemispherical display device comprises a spherical or hemispherical body, a plurality of pieces of displaying films covering substantially the whole surface of the body, and necessary electronics driver circuitry and software. The driver circuitry and software which together drive the pieces of display films, communicate with a computer CPU, which determines the imagery to be displayed on the sphere or hemisphere. The computer CPU may retrieve or calculate the imagery to be displayed using a wide variety of techniques. The spherical or hemispherical body is a solid body and generally hollow inside. In addition, when touch interactivity is required on the display, additional driver circuitry and software may communicate with the CPU about touch-interactive events and gestures, which the CPU interprets and uses programming to determine the corresponding actions.
According to the present invention, the CPU may or may not be integral to the device. The two may communicate in a wired or in a wireless fashion, locally or over a network. The CPU may be in a traditional computer, in a mobile device, in a “compute stick”, or in any other forms.
According to the invention, a variety of adhesives may be used to attach the display film to the solid spherical or hemispherical body to cover almost the whole body. The adjacent pieces of films may be aligned or mated with each other at their respective corresponding edges, or have their respective edges overlapping with each other slightly, or have an edge of one piece of film bend and embedded in a recess formed on the surface of the body and a corresponding edge of another piece of film extending over the embedded edge in the recess.
According to the invention, the electronics may be attached to the film using a “right angle connector,” or a connector with a small radius bend, which goes through an opening in the solid body to which the film is attached, enabling different pieces of film to be mated together. Alternately, the electronics may be hidden at the base of the unit where the sphere or hemisphere are supported. In addition, pieces of film may overlap, thus hiding seams, and electronics from the viewer.
The present invention is illustrated or can be better understood through the accompanying drawings, and is defined in the accompanying claims.
As is well known, flexible AMOLED films and other similar films may be used for curved displaying surfaces of TV sets or Smartphone or the like, and each kind of displaying films may have specific characteristics. For the present invention, it is desired to choose a displaying film or films that would be suitable to be curved to cover spherical or hemispherical surfaces of a globe in different sizes, and that can be cut or manufactured into various shapes to cover the spherical surface of the globe more smoothly. It would be preferred to have the displaying films cut or manufactured into, for instance, a plurality of pieces in banana shape, half banana shape, hexagonal shape, diamond shape, triangle shape, soccer ball, or formed in hemisphere as an integral part. The ones of most interest are the ones listed above or shown in the drawings, i.e., individual banana-shaped films, the same, yet cut in half at the equator; and hexagon, pentagon.
In any event, some electronics would be required for providing images of contents for displaying on the spherical or global display device. Such electronics may be based on “edge electronics.” Depending on the shape of the displaying films, those “electronics” may be provided at the bottom of the globe or somewhere at the connecting point or edges of the displaying films.
Also, depending on the needs or applications of the global or spherical displaying device, the electronics may be just a “connecting device” for communication with mobile devices or remote devices, or just any computers via wired or wireless, or have telecommunication capacity with telecommunication providers.
The driver electronics for film-based displays are well known, and are specific to the type of film being utilized. These electronics provide power to the elements of the film, and provide “addressability”—the ability to determine to specific color and brightness of every single pixel individually.
In
In any event, the edges of those pieces of the thin films shown in the above embodiments of
In
Depending on what shapes of those pieces are, it is always possible to make them to cover substantially the entire surfaces of a globe or sphere, or hemisphere. The shapes of banana and maybe hexagon are the ones described here; but it may be understood that the shapes of diamond, pentagon, triangle, or some irregular pieces may also be used. However, the key is how they may be connected effectively and maybe preferably for having smoother or seamless appearance.
Claims
1. A display device of a general spherical display surface, comprising a general spherical body that is spherical or hemispherical or in between, a layer of displaying film covering substantially the whole surface of the body, and an electronic driver circuitry which is connected to the layer of displaying film for powering and driving the displaying film.
2. A display device of claim 1, further comprising a base that is arranged to accommodate at least the electronic driver circuitry.
3. A display device of claim 2, wherein said base is arranged to accommodate a unit capable of establishing wireless and Bluetooth connection or wireless telecommunication with an outside or remote information processing unit for providing displaying images and contents to the layer of displaying film.
4. A display device of claim 1, wherein the layer of displaying film is of a plurality of pieces of displaying films, each of which is generally in a banana shape in case of a spherical display device, and the plurality of pieces of displaying films are arranged to be adjacent with one another so as to cover substantially the whole spherical surface of the spherical body.
5. A display device of claim 1, wherein the layer of displaying film is of a plurality of pieces of displaying films in two sets, each of which is generally in a half banana shape, thereby forming an upper half and a lower half of the layer of displaying film in case of a spherical display device, and the plurality of pieces of displaying films of each set are arranged to be adjacent with one another so as to cover substantially the whole surface of one of the upper and lower halves of the spherical body.
6. A display device of claim 1, wherein the layer of displaying film is of a plurality of pieces of displaying films, each of which is generally in a half banana shape in case of a hemispherical display device, and the plurality of pieces of displaying films are arranged to be adjacent with one another so as to cover substantially the whole surface of the hemispherical body.
7. A display device of claim 1, wherein the layer of displaying film is of a plurality of pieces of displaying films, each of which is generally in a hexagon shape or part of a hexagon shape in case of a spherical display device, and the plurality of pieces of displaying films are arranged to be adjacent with one another so as to cover substantially the whole spherical surface of the spherical body.
8. A display device of claim 1, wherein the layer of displaying film is of a plurality of pieces of displaying films in two sets, each of which is generally in a hexagon shape or part of a hexagon shape, thereby forming an upper half and a lower half of the layer of displaying film in case of a spherical display device, and the plurality of pieces of displaying films of each set are arranged to be adjacent with one another so as to cover substantially the whole surface of one of the upper and lower halves of the spherical body.
9. A display device of claim 1, wherein the layer of displaying film is of a plurality of pieces of displaying films, each of which is in a hexagon shape or part of a hexagon shape in case of a hemispherical display device, and the plurality of pieces of displaying films are arranged to be adjacent with one another so as to cover substantially the whole surface of the hemispherical body.
10. A display device of claim 1, wherein said body is a spherical body that is capable of at least housing wiring arrangement from the electronic driver circuitry to the layer of displaying film.
11. A display device of claim 10, wherein said spherical body has at least a unit capable of establishing wireless and blue tooth connection or wireless telecommunication with an outside or remote information processing unit for providing displaying images and contents to the layer of displaying film.
12. A display device of claim 4, wherein said spherical body is capable of at least housing wiring arrangement from the electronic driver circuitry to the plurality of pieces of displaying films and has at least a unit capable of establishing wireless and blue tooth connection or wireless telecommunication with an outside or remote information processing unit for providing displaying images and contents to the layer of displaying film.
13. A display device of clam 12, where said spherical body is a hollow body.
14. A display device of claim 7, wherein said spherical body is capable of at least housing wiring arrangement from the electronic driver circuitry to the plurality of pieces of displaying films and has at least a unit capable of establishing wireless and blue tooth connection or wireless telecommunication with an outside or remote information processing unit for providing displaying images and contents to the layer of displaying film.
15. A display device of claim 1, wherein said layer of displaying film is AMOLED film.
16. A display device of claim 1, wherein said electronic driver circuity is implemented as an integrated circuit.
17. A display device of claim 1, wherein the layer of displaying film is of a plurality of pieces of displaying films, each of which is shaped identically.
18. A globe display device of a spherical display surface, comprising a spherical body, a layer of displaying film covering the whole surface of the body, an electronic driver circuitry which is connected to the layer of displaying film for powering and driving the displaying film, and a communication device that is capable of communicating wirelessly with a control device outside of the globe display device for operation thereof.
19. A globe display device of claim 18, wherein the control device is a separate controller for controlling the operation of the globe display device.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 2, 2019
Publication Date: Feb 6, 2020
Applicant: Global Imagination, Inc. (Campbell, CA)
Inventor: Michael Foody (Saratoga, CA)
Application Number: 16/530,720